The mission of Chazen Institute global experiences is to develop future leaders with a global mindset and to expose students to new business cultures, environments and challenges. Global Consulting Projects encourage Columbia Business School MBA students to gain hands-on knowledge of international management by advising a sponsor company on a semester-long global challenge.

How it works

The Chazen Institute sources various projects from across industries. Students are also welcome to propose or source their own opportunities targeting their learning goals and interests.

Students work on projects throughout the fall or spring semester as an Independent Study course. Teams of 3-4 students will bring a diverse set of skills and backgrounds to the project. If travel is appropriate, students travel in January for fall projects, and March for spring projects.

For the Spring 2020 semester, Chazen is partnering with Citi Ventures Each team is assigned a Citi Mentor/Project Manager who guides and coaches the team.

Teams will meet virtually or in-person on a weekly basis with their mentor, and then will present their findings and recommendations at the mid-point and end of the semester to senior Citi stakeholders and the sponsors. Expect to spend 7-10 hours per week on each project.

Current Project

Citibanamex offers a variety of credit cards, including Bsmart, Clasica, and Oro, which represent half of Citibanamex's total accounts and 47% of revenue.

Bsmart was originally released as a card for younger consumers and was innovative because of its chip technology. However, over the years, the card is no longer innovative or different. The assignment is to determine how to differentiate the product in the market. This will entail analyzing the young-consumer segment in Mexico, understanding the segment’s credit needs and opportunities, finding the right differentiator to fulfill the segment’s needs, and revamping the Bsmart value offer.

Product deliverables will include:

• generating a deep dive into the competition, identifying needs and opportunities to win market share
• developing a full market research report with quantitative and qualitative research, including focus groups
• presenting a document containing analyses and results, plus recommendations for implementations, including communications channels
• presenting metrics once the strategy is implemented.

Learning opportunities and benefits

• Explore a business challenge on a global scale.
• Complete a paper or recommendation for the sponsor for academic credit.
• Explore a new industry and role as part of the career planning process.

Eligibility and how to apply

To participate, students must be receiving credit for their projects by working with a faculty member on an Independent Study as per OSA guidelines.Please apply as a group of 3-4 students. Applications are due January 17, 2020 at 12:00 pm. Students should submit a statement of interest and resumes for all team members to chazen@gsb.columbia.edu.